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Houlton raid turns up suspected pot, heroin, Narcan

A man on bond for a sexploitation case was arrested last week on suspicion of drug charges after authorities raided his Houlton-area home.

Brandon W. Brown, 23, was one of two men charged in connection with the Jan. 2 incident in the town of St. Joseph. He and 19-year-old Cameron A. Brown, were both charged with felony THC possession with intent to deliver. The elder Brown is also charged with felony heroin possession.

Brandon Brown was on bond for a 2012 sexploitation case in which prosecutors allege he recorded a sex act at a party. He pleaded no contest to felony sexploitation as part of a 2013 plea agreement in which he received a deferred judgment for that crime. The most recent criminal complaint states bond conditions from the sexploitation case remained in force at the time of last week's raid.

According to the complaint:

Authorities executed a search warrant at 2:54 p.m. Jan. 2 at 1390 Haggerty St. in the town of St. Joseph. No one answered a knock on the door — though the blinds of a nearby window were seen rustling — so investigators entered the home, where they found a man walking "briskly" toward a bedroom. That man, later identified as Brandon Brown, said he had been walking from the bathroom to his bedroom at the time.

A backpack in the bathroom contained 124 grams of suspected pot.

A search of Cameron Brown's bedroom turned up a mason jar with small bags of pot and a digital scale with trace amounts of suspected pot and cocaine.

A search of Brandon Brown's room turned up drug paraphernalia and a small amount of suspected heroin. Officers also found the overdose antidote Narcan in his room.

Brandon Brown told investigators he didn't sell drugs, but later admitted he "has helped some people out, but he is not a big dealer," the complaint states.

The search occurred after a traffic stop involving Cameron Brown at 1:50 p.m. Jan. 2. A search of the vehicle turned up 16 small baggies in Cameron Brown's wallet, along with a marijuana roach.

A sheriff's deputy arrested Cameron Brown. Another man in the car was also detained but was not charged in connection with the traffic stop.

Brandon Brown and Cameron Brown both had preliminary hearings on Wednesday, Jan. 10.

Mike Longaecker is the regional public safety reporter for RiverTown Multimedia. His coverage area spans St. Croix and Pierce counties. Longaecker served from 2011-2015 as editor of the Woodbury Bulletin. A University of Wisconsin-River Falls graduate, Longaecker previously reported for the Red Wing Republican Eagle and for the Forum Communications Minnesota Capitol Bureau. You can follow him on Twitter at @Longaecker